topic Central vs Local Wireless when using AAA Override in Wireless

Central vs Local Wireless when using AAA Override

Beazle — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 21:21:40 GMT

We are looking to implement AAA override so that our radius servers will determine which VLAN a user is placed on depending on which AD group they are apart of. In this scenario is it recommended to implement this while running central or local switching / authentication? Prior to this we were looking to start moving towards local switching / authentication using flex connect after we spun up some 9800-CLs and were testing the Meraki Dashboard wireless solution. However we do not love the idea of having to trunk every network that users may be placed on to every single AP. Scale is a factor that we are considering. Central switching / authentication helps simplify this. Curious how others have implemented similar solutions in their environment and what seems to have worked best?

Re: Central vs Local Wireless when using AAA Override

Flavio Miranda — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 01:23:40 GMT

@Beazle

Works in both way. I believe the decision to choose Central o local should be for other reason. If you have a huge topology with AP spread over wan link to remote sites, local switching make a lot of sense. Otherwise, Central switching is much easier to manage.

Re: Central vs Local Wireless when using AAA Override

balaji.bandi — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 08:21:46 GMT

The choice between Central Switching (Local Mode) and Local Switching (FlexConnect) for AAA override depends primarily on your tolerance for network complexity versus WAN dependency.

Central Switching (Local Mode) -This is generally the recommended method for simplified AAA override at scale.
Local Switching (FlexConnect) - This is used when you need WAN survivability or want to keep traffic local to a branch.

More information can be found here :
https://mrncciew.com/2023/01/21/9800-flexconnect-basics